I’d been ignoring it all summer. The closet. It was totally out of control.  My daughter wedged in there with me recently and I showed her blouses and suits from when I practiced law (15 years ago) and a dress from before she was born (20 years ago). I was shocked that I still had all this stuff AND that it was so friggin’ old. So I took an afternoon and purged. It was painful, but I did it and filled two garbage bags to donate. Here are my tips for how to get yours under control.

1. Count. How many t-shirts do you have? How many sweat pants? How many pairs of black pants? I was shocked to realize I had enough t-shirts to wear one a day without doing laundry for more than a month. Counting how many I had of each item made me feel more comfortable about giving some away because I would never ever need the 15 t-shirts I ditched, not when there were 20 more at the ready.

2. Fight stains. How many digging in the garden, painting, stripping wallpaper outfits do you need? I kept one. The rest were just taking up space I needed.

3. If it doesn’t fit, you must donate. You know those things you buy and they seem like a good idea in the dressing room, but then they look not quite right at home, and you never wear them? Why are you saving them? They aren’t going to magically become suitable. Yes, you wasted some cash on them, but you’re wasting space by keeping them. Donate and know they’ve clothed someone else.

4. No pain. Shoes, bras, waistbands that cut in, anything that makes you uncomfortable is bad closet karma. You feel miserable when you wear it. So just stop the insanity and let it go. It’s never going to feel any better on your body.

5. Stragglers. Somehow I had managed to keep a sleeveless shell from a sweater set from which I no longer had the actual sweater. I kept it thinking it might someday match something else. 10 years later, I can say I was wrong! Out it went. Don’t keep halves of sets like this.

6. Too big to fail. We all have those “just in case I gain it all back clothes.” And I can admit in the past I’ve ditched them and then gained the weight back and regretted it. My solution is to keep the really good pieces but take them out of the closet and store them somewhere else (under the bed, in the attic, etc.) until you are certain your weight loss is not temporary.

7. Out of synch. I will never take a job that requires me to wear a suit every day, so why am I keeping my lawyer suits? If you have clothes from a job, hobby, type of exercise or other lifestyle you aren’t going back to, get rid of them. I kept 2 suits that I could wear to a funeral, but the rest went out the door.

Other ways to make sense of the closet madness:

– Rotate. Put seasonal clothes in front and out of season things in back. This makes your space more functional.

– Fold and stack. If you have shelves in your closet, you might have the tendency I do to just stuff things on them. If you take a few minutes and neatly fold and stack everything you will fit more on the shelf and you’ll be able to easily see and access what you have there.

– Put extra hangers elsewhere. I keep all of my extra hangers hanging from the edge of a shelf up high. This leaves more room for clothes. When I take clothes out, I put the hanger up there. When I hang clothes up, I take a hanger.

– Hang shoes. Buy a shoe organizer and put it on the back of your closet door.

– Assess non-clothing items. My closet has extra blankets, tote bags, and old throw pillows lurking in the nether regions. Purge! Put the ones you really want in plastic zipped bags and get rid of the rest.

– Keep the “I’m going to fit into that someday” clothes, but separate them out so that you aren’t grabbing them, putting them on and then chucking them across the room in a fury. Stuff them in a bag and put them in the back of the closet. If you lose the weight, they will be there.

– If donating doesn’t make you feel excited enough, take your stuff to a resale or consignment shop. My kids LOVE taking old clothes to Plato’s Closet and it is a huge motivator to get them to get rid of things that no longer fit.

Now it is time for confessions. I kept the 20 year old dress because it is beautiful. I doubt it will ever fit but I’m allowed one non-functional item. I also kept a few of the lawyer blouses because they are classic and will work with the funeral outfits.

When was the last time you cleaned your closet?

 

I’d been ignoring it all summer. The closet. It was totally out of control.  My daughter wedged in there with me recently and I showed her blouses and suits from when I practiced law (15 years ago) and a dress from before she was born (20 years ago). I was shocked that I still had … Read more →

I’ve recently realized that I’ve unintentionally taken the last year and really worked to take care of myself. I’ve spent years focusing on taking care of everyone else: grandparents, parents, children, husband, dogs, clients. etc. Like most women, I was at the bottom of my own list. Things have changed as I’ve gotten older (ok, I’m not THAT old) and I have retooled my priorities a bit and it has made a huge difference in my life.

Exercise

A year ago, I started going to a weekly yoga and a weekly Pilates class with my daughter. Honestly, both almost killed me in the beginning. I couldn’t walk without pain and I hurt in places I didn’t know I could hurt. Slowly though, I realized the classes made me feel strong, energized, and in control of my own body. I am by no means athletic, and there are still many things I can barely do in those classes, but I keep going. Some weeks I hate it, but I never regret that I went. Even when my daughter is unable to go, I still go, but having her go in the beginning was a great incentive to me.

I started swimming in a lap pool last winter and plan to do it again this winter. I love swimming as exercise, but have to be careful to go not more than once a week because I get a rash from the chemicals in the water.

I’ve walked for years and I continue to do that. In the summer, I also add kayaking to my list of exercise. What has really helped me get daily exercise is learning to think of it not as exercise, but as something fun I like to do. Then I am motivated to keep going.

Personal Care

I am not someone who is big on lotions, potions, creams, gels, makeup, etc. Daily moisturizer with sunscreen in it and some eyeliner and I’m out the door. Lately though, I’ve been trying to add a night cream to my regimen because my face just feels better when I do. And I think that I deserve to have skin that feels nice.

Electric Toothbrush

I finally, finally bought an electric toothbrush for myself (everyone else in the house has had them for years) because I was willing to do anything to reduce the problems I have had with my teeth. And I switched from the 90 year old dentist I had gone to all my life to a new dentist that has TVs, blankets and warm wet cloths to wipe your face.

Dumping Bad Doctors

Why am I going to see someone I can’t understand, is nasty to me, or is unpleasant? I shouldn’t be and because of this, I overhauled my doctors and got new ones to replace the bad ones. I don’t dread those appointments anymore and that has made me feel happier.

Acupuncture

I started going to acupuncture about 4 months ago when I felt overwhelmed by an undiagnosed health problem. I also had a laundry list of small health things that were nothing huge, but together added up. I was very skeptical about acupuncture and in the beginning did not enjoy it. However, four months later, I can say that it has changed my life. Not only did it reduce pain, help me heal, and overcome some health problems, but it makes me feel fantastic. I feel rested and energized from it.

Aside from the actual acupuncture process itself, I’ve gotten two other big benefits. My acupuncturist is a professor of Oriental medicine and a diplomat in the field. I trust her implicitly and she has suggested herbal and nutritional remedies that have helped me tremendously. Because this is one of those areas where you never quite know if you can believe what you read online, I like having someone with knowledge in this field that I can talk to. She also is skilled in medical massage and has fixed a pulled neck muscle and a sore hip.

The other benefit is more personal. My acupuncture appointment is the one hour a week that is only about me. It is an hour devoted to healing, restoring, and energizing me. It is also a time when I can think and talk holistically about my health and my body. It is all connected and talking to my acupuncturist each week about what is happening in my body has made me feel so much more tuned in to what my body is telling me and how it is reacting to what I put in it. I also find it very important to take the time and have someone focus on ME. Husband, friends, family all love me and care for me, but it is not the same as having someone focus all their energies on your needs in a concentrated way once a week. The entire process feeling healing and uplifting to me.

Nutritionist

My acupuncturist referred me to a holistic nutritionist who helped pinpoint some nutritional and mineral deficiencies in my diet and also made some recommendations about foods to cut out. I’ve recently added in some supplements and removed some foods based on those recommendations but it is too early to report if they have helped me.

Picky Eating

This year I also decided that I will no longer eat things I don’t like. So this means that if I don’t like the pie at a dinner party, I will not eat it. If I don’t want to eat the crust on my sandwich, I do not. I’m not required to clean my plate or eat to make other people happy and that has been a very freeing decision for me.

Saying No

I have really been working on saying no. I turned down a book contract because I just wasn’t comfortable with the angle they wanted me to take. I said no to a speaking engagement that I just didn’t want to do. My friend, the brilliant Alisa Bowman, recently told me that I have to stop “should”-ing myself and she’s right, so I’ve really been making an effort to stop doing things I feel I “should” do, but don’t really want to.

As part of my just say no campaign, I’ve made an effort to simply not engage with people who are negative. I don’t want to waste my time or energy dealing with that kind of energy, so I simply do not. This can be hard when some of those people are family members, but I am working at it. I absolutely will not deal with it online in any way.

Saying Yes

I’ve started to think “if not now, when?” about a lot of things. We hope to have many years to travel and do the things we enjoy, but the fact is, life is finite. My parents expected to have years after retirement to do these things and my father is now about to undergo a second back surgery after more than a year of having very little mobility. They aren’t even in their 70s. While it is important to plan and save for the future, it is also important that we find joy today, right now, and do the things we enjoy because who knows how long we will have to do them? Because of this, my husband and I are working hard to make room in our lives for fun. We’re saying yes to things we might not have a few years ago, and we are feeling as though we enjoy life much more now.

Many of these changes are things I simply could not have done 10 years ago. There is no way I could have found 3 hours a week for yoga, Pilates, and acupuncture when I had a child in preschool. We also could not have afforded it. I do think that if I could have added even one of these a week to my life back then, it would have helped. But I wasn’t at a place in my life where I was able to focus on caring for myself. I really believe that is something that comes as your life changes and your kids get older. There is simply more time to focus on yourself and you also start to realize that you have the right to make your life into what you want it to be. I’m still learning, but the changes I’ve made in the past year have been so helpful to me.

What do you do for yourself?

 

 

I’ve recently realized that I’ve unintentionally taken the last year and really worked to take care of myself. I’ve spent years focusing on taking care of everyone else: grandparents, parents, children, husband, dogs, clients. etc. Like most women, I was at the bottom of my own list. Things have changed as I’ve gotten older (ok, … Read more →

Laundry stains are something I spend far too much time on. Yes, there are the usual kid stains, but I also manage to spill everything all over myself, all the time. Whatever I am eating, cooking, working on, or touching invariably ends up on my clothes.  I am also guilty of putting away clothes I wore briefly, only to take them out months later and find those yellow stains on them. I have developed a huge stain fighting arsenal to deal with it all.

Cold water and soap: This is the best way to get out blood, chocolate, and tomatoes, as long as you work on the stain as soon as it happens. You have to do this by hand and scrub hard and continue to rinse and scrub until it disappears.

Alcohol, soap, and cold water: This will get out ink stains, but is another process you need to do by hand over the sink, continuing to reapply and scrub until it comes out.

StainStick: This is now called Resolve, but is the same product. It’s a gel stick that you rub on stains when you take the clothes off. It helps prevent them from setting in so they will come out in the wash. I take this with us whenever we travel and keep one next to the laundry hamper. It really cuts down on stain removal work.

Shout: This is my first line defense against stains. It never ruins clothes so it’s always safe to try first. I spray it on and let it set for half an hour, then wash the stained clothes.

Shout gel: This is a more concentrated Shout which also will not ruin clothes. I also let this sit for a while before washing.

Biz: This is a powdered color safe booster you are supposed to add to the wash, but I make it into a paste and put it on tough stains. I let this get almost dry then wash. Sometimes it can bleach out clothes, so it’s always best to test it first.

OxyClean spray: This is also good on tough stains and I like that it comes in a spray bottle.

OxyClean powder: I buy this in a tub and make it into a paste to apply to tough stains. I let it get almost dry before washing. This has also ruined some items, so always test it first.

Chlorox Bleach pen: I use this only on whites and only on stains I can’t get out any other way. It allows you to apply bleach directly to one single spot without getting it everywhere. I usually apply, then immediately rinse with cold water so the bleach does not spread.

Grandma’s Secret Stain Remover: My mother-in-law bought this for me and it sometimes works when other stainlifters will not. It comes in a tiny little squeeze bottle and can be hard to use, but I’ve had success with it.

DL Hand Automotive Hand Cleaner: This looks a little out of place on the list, but it works! This is a pink no-water needed hand cleaner that cleans grease. It’s marketed to mechanics. My husband and father-in-law used to repair office furniture and used this to clean grease off their hands. It is spectacular for tough, greasy stains. Rub it on. Let it sit a while, then wash.

Chlorox 2: This is my newest stainfighter and it got stains out of a shirt that nothing else on this list could touch. I was ready to throw the shirt out and had a free sample packet of this so I decided to try it. It’s a thick liquid, so I poured a little on and let it sit for about half an hour and then washed it. It was magic.

Some other tips about stain-fighting:

• If at all possible, work on the stains before sending the clothes through the wash. The dryer seems to set tough stains in.
• Sometimes if you scrub at a stain with a toothbrush this will help to remove it.
• If you have a piece of clothing with a lot of stains, instead of targeting each one separately, try soaking the garment in a tub with Oxyclean or Biz. I use about a cup of powder to a gallon of water and let it soak.
• Always check your stained item after you pull it out of the washer and before you put it in the dryer. As mentioned earlier, the dryer will set it and you won’t have as good a chance to get it out.
• Washing your clothes in cold water will help prevent stains from setting as well.
• Avoid detergent stains on clothes by always starting the washer, putting in the soap, then putting in the clothes. If you pour detergent over the clothes, sometimes it will stain them.

Do you have any stain-fighting tips?

Laundry stains are something I spend far too much time on. Yes, there are the usual kid stains, but I also manage to spill everything all over myself, all the time. Whatever I am eating, cooking, working on, or touching invariably ends up on my clothes.  I am also guilty of putting away clothes I … Read more →

Fall is always when I make time to work on projects around the house. Our summers are very busy with a vacation and spending almost every weekend at my parents’ lake house, so I feel like I’m never really here, and I feel as though I let it all go to hell in a handbasket around here. Once school starts and we are on a normal schedule, I get down to brass tacks, getting things into shape and re-organizing.

Managing Meds

This week I tackled the kitchen medicine cabinet. I have a pull out cabinet in my kitchen where I keep all of the prescriptions and supplements we take. I use a lot of herbal supplements and I have a pretty high turnover in what I use, depending on what’s going on. When we were in the cycle of going to the lake every Friday night through Sunday, I just left a bag of meds on the counter, since there was no sense in unpacking and packing them every 4 days. I’ve finally put them away and cleaned out the cabinet, putting away herbals we aren’t using in a closet, and making room for new ones. Having that off my counter has made my kitchen feel bigger and better organized.

Bathroom Closet

Next on my organizing list is my bathroom closet. I was looking for something in it this week and became so frustrated I just took everything out and put it in a laundry basket. I need to go through it, toss things I’m not using, and reorganize it. I have a big container of travel sized items that needs to be purged and I would really love it if I could get the closet to the point where things do not fall off the shelves every time I reach in.

Freezer

We have a side by side fridge in the kitchen and an upright freezer in the basement. The upstairs freezer was a disaster. We emptied it out and organized it and now I can actually find things. Note to self: stop putting meat in there. I just forget about it and it gets freezer burned!

Household Catch Up Weekend

We took a weekend and made a huge list of all the little things that needed to get done around here and just worked out way down the list: installing a new toilet seat, self-cleaning the oven, cleaning  up piles of stuff, cleaning out the dryer vent, oiling squeaky hinges and more. Making a list of little things and then methodically working through it helps us get a lot done!

Hanging It All Up

An ongoing project that is on the list is dealing with the artwork and photos from our trip to Italy. We took some things for framing, have a few more to go and I bought frames for photos. Now I have to figure out what to do with them!

Wastebasket Clean Up

On my list is to take all of the wastebaskets outside and scrub the insides with soap. This is one of those once a year jobs that I need to remember to get to.

Artificial Plant Day

I am planning a day to bring all of my artificial plants and silk flowers into the kitchen and clean them thoroughly with a soapy cloth. They attract dust and never really get clean when they’re lightly dusted.

 

If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em

Getting back into the school routine isn’t always easy. In the past I have sounded like a broken record, telling my son how important it is to eat breakfast before school. Some mornings he just can’t seem to find anything. Everyone here agrees that eating protein in the mornings helps us get through the days and keeps our hunger in check, so I try to encourage that (I even agreed he could eat leftover sesame chicken a couple of mornings ago). He loves, loves, loves breakfast sandwiches from places like Dunkin’ Donuts. However, he does not like cheese. There are no frozen breakfast sandwiches without cheese (and I really hate buying premade frozen things like that). So I bought bagels and frozen sausage patties (I would much rather buy fresh organic patties, but we’re working up to that! He’s pretty particular). Then I scrambled a dozen eggs and cooked them up in a giant pan, breaking it up into 7 bagel-sized pieces. I froze each egg item in a ziploc bag. Now when he gets up he can throw the egg and sausage into the microwave and toast a bagel and he has an instant breakfast sandwich.

Fall is always when I make time to work on projects around the house. Our summers are very busy with a vacation and spending almost every weekend at my parents’ lake house, so I feel like I’m never really here, and I feel as though I let it all go to hell in a handbasket … Read more →

We have two golden retrievers who keep us on our toes, but I’m at my wit’s end with Percy. Percy is a 7 year old male and is the head dog in our house. He not only believes he is in charge of other dogs, but he believes it is his job to keep me on schedule (if I am not in the kitchen cooking dinner at the appropriate time, he barks at me) and to make sure I spend enough time touching him (a dog has needs).

Percy scratched open a big sore on the side of his face about 6 weeks ago. We immediately coned him (we’ve been through this before) and let it heal completely – scab was completely gone. Once it was completely gone, we took the cone off and he scratched it open again. We’ve been playing this game for weeks with the cone on then off, then he scratches it open again and we put it back on. We went to the vet a few weeks ago, who gave him a shot and shaved it (which I think makes it worse since it not only itches, but if he does scratch it, there is no fur to protect it). Well that didn’t help at all. We’re headed back to the vet, but I’m about ready to strap some doggie boots on his back feet to stop him from scratching it and put him on doggie Benadryl to reduce the itchiness.

I feel terrible for him in his sensory deprivation cone and we take it off and closely supervise him so he can roll around on the floor and we scratch his neck and ears for him. He’s at the point with the cone where he has decided that if he has to be miserable, then we do too. He whacks me on the back of the legs with it going down the stairs. He runs it along the edge of my expensive kitchen cabinets like a prisoner running a spoon across the bars. He lays in the hallway outside my office and whines a sad little cry to let me know how unhappy he is. However this in no way has prevented him from drinking out of the toilet (which he will do if the water in the water bowl is not fresh enough for him – he sniffs it to check how recently it’s been changed. 6 hours is iffy. 4 is acceptable). I’m at the end of my rope with this thing and hope we can get some solutions. If you have suggestions, please weigh in!

We have two golden retrievers who keep us on our toes, but I’m at my wit’s end with Percy. Percy is a 7 year old male and is the head dog in our house. He not only believes he is in charge of other dogs, but he believes it is his job to keep me … Read more →

Welcome readers! This is my new blog and it contains all of the content from my MarthaAndMe and NoPotCooking blogs, all under one roof now. I’ll still be doing Martha Mondays. I’ll still be trying out Martha recipes and projects. I’ll definitely still be posting my own recipes and projects. And I’ll be expanding the content just a wee bit and hope to talk a little bit more about books, travel, collecting, and life in general. I hope you’ll stick around and join me as I move forward under this new blogging roof! For a full description of what this blog is about, as well to read about me, click on the About page tab up at the top. I’m excited to be blogging here and I hope to hear from you as I move forward!

Welcome readers! This is my new blog and it contains all of the content from my MarthaAndMe and NoPotCooking blogs, all under one roof now. I’ll still be doing Martha Mondays. I’ll still be trying out Martha recipes and projects. I’ll definitely still be posting my own recipes and projects. And I’ll be expanding the … Read more →

Hi everyone. I’m behind due to some illness. Hope to make this project later today or tomorrow depending on how things go.

Hi everyone. I’m behind due to some illness. Hope to make this project later today or tomorrow depending on how things go.

Hallmark will no longer carry The Martha Stewart show after the show ends this year (new shows run through the spring and reruns will continue this summer).  I admit I haven’t watched it a lot lately. My DVR still records new shows and I usually fast forward through them just to see who she has on and what they’re doing, but I almost never slow down and actually watch segments.

From the press releases it sounds like Martha will continue to work with Hallmark and I’ll bet we’ll see specials from her on Hallmark. In related news, Home Depot will no longer be carrying Martha’s paint.

What are your thoughts? Are you sad to see the show go? Do you watch it regularly? Is it time for it to go?

Hallmark will no longer carry The Martha Stewart show after the show ends this year (new shows run through the spring and reruns will continue this summer).  I admit I haven’t watched it a lot lately. My DVR still records new shows and I usually fast forward through them just to see who she has … Read more →

October 22 marks the third anniversary of MarthaAndMe. It’s been a fun and amazing three years. I started out the first year blogging every single day, and unofficially apprenticing myself to Martha. I learned so much in that year and it ended up being a great bootcamp for me. In year two, I slowed things down and added in my own recipes. The third year was an even bigger change, with more and more of my own recipes. I also wrote and sold three cookbooks in year three! I have Martha and this blog to thank for that!

Along the way I’ve made some great friends, tried new and different projects, and continued to expand my love of cooking and my skills with decorating, organizing and (sometimes!) crafting. What will this fourth year bring? I don’t know for sure, but I do know Martha Mondays continues (click the tab at the top of the blog to learn and to join!), I’ll continue to share my own recipes and my forays into Martha’s world. Cookbook #1 (The Parchment Paper Cookbook – You can enter to win a copy of that on my other blog) is out. The Organized Kitchen and The Muffin Tin Cookbook will be coming soon. I’m contemplating a major site redesign this year as well, so that will be an exciting change.

Mostly I want to thank all of you who have followed me, commented, read along, popped in occasionally, and become my friends. My thank you gift to you is a one year subscription to Everyday Food Magazine. I’m giving away one to a lucky reader. To enter, just leave a comment on this post.

You must enter by midnight ET on Wednesday October 26. I’ll randomly and blindly select the winner by random number drawing (numbers assigned in order of comments here). Sorry, offer limited to U.S. addresses only and entrants age 18 and up only. One entry per person. Winners notified by email given when entering, not responsible for email transmission problems. You are responsible for notifying me of your correct mailing address if you are selected as a winner. Contest closes at midnight Eastern time on 10/26/11. Prize is nontransferable and may not be redeemed for cash. MarthaAndMe reserves the right to announce the name of the winner on the blog.

October 22 marks the third anniversary of MarthaAndMe. It’s been a fun and amazing three years. I started out the first year blogging every single day, and unofficially apprenticing myself to Martha. I learned so much in that year and it ended up being a great bootcamp for me. In year two, I slowed things … Read more →

Hi everyone. I’m down for the count here and could not get the project done. If you made it, please post results in comments. I’m sorry! I wanted to but have been too sick to cook for two days.

Hi everyone. I’m down for the count here and could not get the project done. If you made it, please post results in comments. I’m sorry! I wanted to but have been too sick to cook for two days.